The Beginning

Kind of like life itself, no one is quite sure how Action Potential began. In September of 1988, two Cook College (New Brunswick, N.J., U.S.A.) freshmen, Antny Greco and his roommate Martin Sanchez, were passing the time by singing off-key a capella versions of timeless classics such as "La Bamba." A few weeks later, Antny and his new-found friend Jefrey Smith sat down to rewrite a sappy love poem Antny had written for his girlfriend. The sappy love poem was converted into a vulgar punk anthem with very little effort. So Antny and Jefrey recruited a few other friends to join them as they banged on the furniture, screamed the lyrics, and made assorted other unpleasant noises on items such as desk lamps and cardboard boxes. Luckily (?), all of this was captured on tape.

Naming the Band

Most of the charter members of Action Potential were forced to take Biology 101 their freshman year, which could explain why they acted so strangely. One day, while reading his textbook, Antny came across the term "action potential," which had several things in its favor as band names go:

1. It sounds cool.
2. It has to do with electricity.
3. Without action potentials, your brain wouldn't work.
4. The "potential for action" seemed like a fitting concept for a band that had a lot of energy, a lot of creativity, and, fortuitously, very little musical talent.

A Marketing Scheme

One of these young fools must have had a marketing class that semester, because they decided soon after to compile a bunch of this music-like stuff and sell it to friends and neighbors in their dormitory. At only $1 for about 20 minutes of noise on the cheapest cassette tape available at CVS Pharmacy, it was the ripoff of the century.

Live Long and Prosper

Unfortunately, the first album gave the band a bad reputation, and even though they accumulated more talent (and many more instruments) as the years went on, few of the original customers (victims) were interested in Action Potential's later releases. Nevertheless, the band continued to grow artistically (?) and expand its fan base, which is estimated to be about 15 to 20 people at the time of this writing.

Sometime around 1997, Action Potential expanded to include the talents of FiL Wisneski, a recluse from central New Jersey. FiL's ability to play a few chords was seen as a way to take Action Potential to the next level. That didn't quite happen, but seeing as how FiL runs the AP web page, there was no way to get rid of him.

In 1998, AP celebrated its tenth anniversary by entering the digital age with its first CD, Retrograde. Another CD, Reaching, followed in 1999, but sadly, it was to be their last. The band broke up before the CD was released. The Internet is rife with rumors that Action Potential has reunited on several occasions to jam in the studio, but as of this writing, there has been no concrete (or magnetic) evidence to support such tantalizing hearsay.

One part joke band, one part improvisational art-rock experiment, Action Potential had only one rule when it came to making music: be sure to press Record.